Where’s My Mickey? Review

Where's My Mickey? is a title that should draw in Mickey Mouse fans and Where's My Water? enthusiasts. Instead of helping bathe an alligator, gamers are now tasked with helping Mickey collect as much water as possible. Although most of the puzzles can be solved in within a minute, its simplicity doesn't detract from its overall allure.

Sometimes simple and easy is the way to go, especially when most gamers have their own personal connection with Mickey Mouse. Seeing animation's most iconic character in action should brighten any Disney lover's day, so in that sense Where's My Mickey has tons of goodwill currency before the journey even starts. Credit goes to Disney Mobile for not releasing a one note, by-the-numbers Mickey project.

There are five stages in Where's My Mickey?, with each section featuring 20 levels of game play. You can also unlock, as an in-game app purchase, two stages featuring Goofy. If you don't want to shell out the $0.99 to buy Goofy's stages, there are three levels you can still sample for each Goofy section.

The object of the game is to give Mickey Mouse as much water as possible, as he'll need the world's healthiest resource to perform various activities. To send the water down the proper drain and into Mickey's bucket, players must manipulate the wind, dig through dirt to create pathways, or even inject water through moving clouds. If your timing is even slightly off, especially in dealing with the unpredictable gusts, the mission will fail and you will have to restart that level. After a few mistakes, you should be able to master any challenges that are thrown your way, since Where's My Mickey? isn't exactly rocket science.

When you solve each level, a Mickey Mouse short which pertains to your mission will immediately play. During the first stage, Mickey needs water to make lemonade. Each short seen after every completed level is slightly different from the previous video, and so on. If you get bored with solving puzzles, the variation of animated clips seen immediately after may continue to whet your appetite.

It's also an excellent move to allow gamers to jump from stage to stage without unlocking all the levels. When I grew weary of the lemonade chapter, I hopped onto the next section, which is titled Fanning the Flames. Instead of making drinks for his friends, Mickey uses the water to put a fire out. A different stage translates into new animation to behold and revised strategical thinking.

Where's My Mickey? makes full use of the tap and swipe control mechanic, and getting the chance to shape and interact with your environment on an iPad is one of the many joys of the title. (iPad owners also get an extra 20 levels that make use of the larger tablet screen). The game's ultimate strength depends on the player's own attachment to Disney animation. If you can sit back and watch Disney animated films until you're blue in the face, then Where's My Mickey? will be a worthy addition to your gaming collection, especially if you want to see the legendary mouse travel through outer space.

Where's My Mickey? delivers simple yet addictive puzzle gameplay filled with animation sequences that make it more than a worthy download. The abundance of available levels, even if they take less than a minute or so to complete, is also refreshing to see in an iOS landscape littered with in-game app purchases. Who knew grabbing water could be so much fun? If Disney continues to hold a place in your heart, there is no reason Mickey should ever go thirsty.